Machine Movement Leicester

Machine movement in Leicester and across Leicestershire

We provide machine movement in Leicester for food producers, precision engineering and textile firms, distribution sites and hospitals across the city and county. The work covers one machine or a whole line: installing new plant, relocating to another site, re-laying a factory floor, transport and storage, replacing a failed machine and clearing out old plant. Some city-centre premises sit on narrow, partly pedestrian streets around the Cultural Quarter, so load-outs there go into early or weekend slots.

We cover Leicester, Beaumont Leys, Hamilton, Wigston, Oadby, Enderby and Braunstone, and out to Hinckley, Lutterworth, Loughborough and Market Harborough. Send us the details and we can usually price the job the same working day from a desktop survey.

What a machine move involves

The machine is disconnected and made safe first. It is then rigged, extracted, moved and levelled onto its mounts. A heavy press leaving a yard may need a crane and a low loader. A lathe crossing the same shop needs jacks, skates and a clear path. We pick the method once we know the weight, the way out and how long you can be without it.

What we move in Leicester

Equipment	Where it usually is	How it moves
CNC mills, lathes and grinders	Engineering units at Beaumont Leys, Hamilton and Braunstone	Raised on jacks, run out on skates, then loaded by crane or forklift
Food processing and packing lines	Food manufacturers around Leicester and the county towns	Split into modules and rebuilt in the order production restarts
Knitting and textile machinery	Textile and garment firms on the city’s estates	Moved in one piece where the doorway allows, stripped down where it does not
Conveyors and sortation equipment	Warehouses off the M1 and M69 near Lutterworth and Hinckley	Refitted a section at a time while the building keeps working
Scanners and laboratory equipment	Hospital and university buildings in the city	Air skates over protected floors, placed to a marked set-out
Chillers, compressors and cold store plant	Roofs, plant rooms and freezer buildings	Craned up or down, then skated onto the plinth

Tell us the weight, the size and where it is going, and we will work out the move. Our machine movement service page explains the process in more detail.

Get In Touch

Please leave a few details and a member of our machine movement team will be in touch to discuss your requirements in more detail.

Where we work in and around Leicester

Our Leicester machine movement work spreads across these sectors.

Beaumont Leys, Hamilton and the city estates

Engineering, textile and trade firms fill the estates around the city, many in older buildings with small yards and awkward doors. We bring new machines in, move firms from one unit to a bigger one and strip out old plant for resale or scrap. See our industrial sector page.

Food manufacturing

Food production is one of the county’s big employers. When a site adds capacity or changes a product, mixers, ovens and packing machines come out and their replacements go in during a short shutdown, to the site’s hygiene rules. See our food and beverages page.

Distribution along the M1 and M69

Warehouses around Lutterworth, Hinckley and the city’s distribution parks refit their conveyors and handling equipment when a contract changes hands. We phase the change between shifts and agree the yard route with the site team so trailers keep moving. See our industrial sector page.

Hospitals and universities

Leicester has a large hospital estate and two universities. Scanners, lab equipment and plant room machinery are moved with wards and teaching still running, and vacations give the universities room for bigger changes. See our healthcare and pharma and education pages.

City-centre buildings and plant rooms

Offices, student blocks and shops in the centre replace chillers, air handling units and generators as they age. The old unit comes down by crane or out through the plant room, and the new one goes in the same way on an early start or a Sunday. See our HVAC sector page.

Rail, power and utilities

Transformers, switchgear and rail equipment can only be moved inside an outage or possession booked well before the work. We fit our dates to theirs. See our rail and power and renewables pages.

Access and planning for a machine move in Leicester

Points we check on most Leicester jobs:

Getting loads in and out. Heavy loads mostly use the M1 at junctions 21 and 22 and the M69, with the A6, A46, A47 and A50 reaching the rest of the county. We check low bridges and weight limits before we quote.
The city centre. Streets around the Cultural Quarter are tight and partly pedestrian, with little room for a trailer to stand, so central load-outs are booked for early mornings or weekends.
Floors and ground. Old factory floors can be thin, and land along the Soar can be soft or made ground. We confirm what will carry the skates, the trailer and the crane outriggers, and spread the load with plates or mats.
Working windows. A food site gives us a shutdown and a warehouse a gap in its shift pattern. Setting up and clearing away are planned into that time too.
Road closures. Where a load-out needs part of a road or pavement, we can arrange the traffic management and road closure with Leicester City Council or Leicestershire County Council.

Moving large or heavy machinery by road

A vehicle and load over 44,000kg gross, 2.9m wide or 18.65m long is an abnormal load. Up to 80,000kg the highway and bridge authorities need two clear working days’ notice through ESDAL, rising to five above that, when the police need notice too. Loads over 2.9m wide or 18.65m long also need two clear working days’ notice to the police. Above 150,000kg or 6.1m wide a Special Order is needed, applied for about ten weeks ahead. We handle the notifications ourselves or with your haulier. From Leicester, heavy loads join the M1 at junction 21 or 22, or head south west on the M69 towards Coventry.

Postcodes and areas we cover

We cover every LE postcode and the Leicestershire districts around it:

Leicester: city centre, the Cultural Quarter, Aylestone, Evington, Clarendon Park, Beaumont Leys and Braunstone
Around the city: Hamilton, Glenfield, Wigston, Oadby, Enderby, Groby, Anstey and Syston
The county: Loughborough, Coalville, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Melton Mowbray, Market Harborough and Lutterworth
Wider area: Hinckley, Nuneaton, Coventry and Corby

We also move machinery right across the UK.

Why Leicester firms choose Synergy Lifting for machine movement

Factory work is our normal. Line installs, plant swaps and machine moves inside working factories make up the bulk of what we do.
Warehouses kept shipping. Yard and warehouse work is planned around your deliveries and shift patterns.
One firm from start to finish. Our own people run the crane, the skates and jacks, the gantries and the transport.
Qualified and accredited. CPCS and NPORS operators, lifts planned to BS 7121, equipment inspected under LOLER and PUWER, SSIP approved, Constructionline Gold Member, certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, and members of the Construction Plant-hire Association.

More than machine movement

Leicester machine moves often need one of these alongside:

How a machine move works

Tell us the machine’s weight and size, where it is, where it is going and when. Photos help.
We send a price, usually the same working day from a desktop survey. Complex moves may need a site visit first.
We write the method statement, risk assessment and lift plan.
On the day we rig and extract the machine, transport it and put it in position.
It is set down and levelled, ready for your engineers to reconnect and commission.

Common questions

Our factory door is smaller than the machine. Can it still come out?

In most cases, yes. We measure the opening and the route to the yard, then decide whether the machine leaves in sections on skates, whole through a removed wall panel or roof sheet with a crane, or a mix of the two. Photos of the doorway help.

Can you change conveyors in a warehouse that is still trading?

Yes. We change the system one run at a time, keep the yard route clear for vehicles and agree exclusion zones with your site team, so orders keep going out while the new equipment goes in.

Who disconnects and reconnects the machine?

Mechanical disconnection and making safe is usually ours, and we position the machine precisely enough for commissioning. Electrical and control reconnection is coordinated with your own engineers or the machine manufacturer, and who covers what is agreed at survey stage.

Can you move a machine that has broken down?

Yes. Breakdown work is prioritised because production has usually stopped. Call us with the machine details and we will give you a firm attendance time on the call.

Get a quote for machine movement in Leicester

Phone: 0116 350 1020
Email: leicester@synergy-lifting.co.uk

Send us the weight, the dimensions and both locations, with a few photos if you have them.

We also provide machine movement in Nottingham, Coventry, Derby and Northampton. See all the machine movement locations.